Curse of the Twilight
by Lightweight
Summary: An Alternate Reality story to the upcoming LoZ: Twilight Princess. Zelda is forced into the Twilight Realm, where the curse of the land changes her life dramatically. [Canned! sorry fellas.]
1. Descent

(first off all, This fanfic is pure speculation about the upcoming Zelda game, Twilight Princess. I wanted this fic out before more of the story was revealed. Thus, I would like to thank Nintendo for spilling their own beans about the storyline. Thank you for not giving me a chance. For that, this will be treated as an **Alternate Reality** fic. Don't complain I'm not following storyline. I just put the fic's genre in bold, so if you can't read disclaimers, that's your issue, not my problem. Also, Link talks in this fic –later on-, so if you don't like him talking, then you might as well leave.)

**Disclaimer: I do not own "The Legend of Zelda" or any related characters. They're all property of Nintendo.**

_Curse of the Twilight_

_Act 1_

_**Descent  
**_

"Attack!"

"Sound the alarm! They're attacking the castle!"

"Warn the King and the Princess!"

"Break the gates!"

"Heave-Ho!"

"They've broken in!"

It was a state of alarm in Hyrule Castle. A group of barbarians have just broken in on castle grounds. Their intention: an attempt to overthrow the current King and rule the land. The soldiers tried making barricades and fighting back, but their opposition did little to stop the barbarians' powerful boars. Eventually, the barbarians penetrated the main castle, resulting in mass chaos as they slashed left and right with their swords, daggers, spears, and other weapons of mass carnage. King Harkinian, while running to safety, overheard the barbarians say things like "Search everywhere!" and "Take no prisoners!" He feared for his life, but more so, for his daughter Zelda's life.

King Harkinian, Princess Zelda, and a few of their best soldiers were running to hide in a safe place when another soldier came running towards them. "Don't go that way! There are barbarians there!" The soldier yelled. Upon the shock of the news, even the highly trained soldiers became disoriented, and everybody started running aimlessly. After running through seemly endless corridors, Princess Zelda found out she was completely alone. Before she could feel officially panicked, though, a castle soldier found her and offered to assist her.

"Princess! What are you doing here?" The soldier asked. "Please come with me, and hurry. There could be barbarians close by soo… UGH!"

The soldier tensed up, then fell down due to a stab in the back given by a barbarian just behind him.

"Well, hello, princess." He said menacingly.

Meanwhile, King Harkinian was still running around with his guards, trying to avoid the barbarians. Unfortunately, they ended up on a dead end, and the barbarians caught up with him. They were too much, and the guards couldn't handle them. It was all hopeless for the King.

Suddenly, galloping was heard. Not just normal galloping, but _thunderous_ galloping. The castle walls ricocheted the announcement the barbarians yelled with increased tension and fear.

"The sheikah are coming! The sheikah are coming!"

Indeed. The sheikah, longtime allies with the king and master warriors, got word of the attack and immediately set forth to protect the Royal Family. Immediately, the barbarians shifted their attention to their new threat. The sheikah's superior ability to fight in horseback, however, proved to be more than an even match for the barbarians. Around the battlefield, you could hear the barbarians shouting stuff like "There's too many of them!" and "We have to get outta here!" Finally, the leader of the barbarians gave the order to retreat. All the remaining barbarians mounted a boar and fled from the scene.

Once everything was secure, Impa, the leader of the sheikah, decided to check the situation inside. There were many downs, mainly from castle soldiers, although quite a few barbarians weren't exactly lucky. When she got to the king's room, she found King Harkinian on the verge of tears.

"My king, what happened?" Impa asked, surprised to see the usually brave king so feeble.

"Zelda… she… she…" That's all King Harkinian could say before breaking down.

Impa turned to one of the king's guards. "What of Princess Zelda?" She asked.

"Princess Zelda… is nowhere to be found." The soldier confessed. Impa's face completely fell. "We have searched everywhere, Lady Impa, but we found no trace. We fear the barbarians might've kidnapped her."

Impa was awash in sadness, but quickly masked it under a blanket of anger. Makkid, sheikah second-in-command, was searching for Impa when he heard the horrible news. When he saw Impa's determined look, he knew she had only one thing in mind, and there was no turning back. Still, he asked.

"Lady Impa, what are the orders?"

She turned to Makkid, then to the king, who was unable to enact an order right away, then she looked forward, to no specific point.

"We search." She said. "We find them, chase them out, we beat the living crap out of them and rescue Princess Zelda."

Somewhere far away on Hyrule field, the barbarians were riding off with their new "guest". Some were joyful for their bounty, while others questioned if it was really necessary.

"I still don't get it." Said one. "Why did we get the princess? We were aiming for the king!"

"Change in plans!" another one said. "You can thank the sheikah for that."

"But what good would having the princess do to us?" the first one asked.

"I can think of a few good things…" a third one suggested.

"No!" Their leader scolded that last guy. "If we want this plan to work, the princess must stay intact!"

"You're no fun, boss." The third one said.

The barbarian leader just let out a "Humph" as they kept riding straight into a forest. As they ventured deeper into the forest, the environment became darker and toughter to traverse. Eventually, it got to the point that the road was practically unrecognizable by some.

"Hey." One barbarian called another. "Are you sure this is the right way?"

"Don't worry." The other one told him. "A few more plants here and there, but this is the right roooo…" The guy's voice trailed off when he saw something unusual. There was some sort of carved stone on top of a tree stump with what looked like some sort of bright orange eye. The strangest thing was that it looked like the eye was staring at him. He needed to report this abnormality to their leader.

"Boss! Hey, boss! Something weird is happe…" He didn't finish talking when the forest took an eerie tone, and a voice boomed from within the trees.

"**You who dare trespass the realm of sorrow. You are not welcome in this land. For this, you shall suffer the ultimate punishment."**

Suddenly, the trees were making a freakish deafening noise. It was like a million Deku Scrubs running and shrieking at the same time. The barbarians were ready for anything. An army of animals, a rock-flinging onslaught, evil monkeys… you name it. Or so they thought. Before they could even react, a giant shadow enveloped them into eternal darkness.

Zelda opened her eyes, expecting to be dead. To her surprised, she was alive, but she couldn't say the same for her captors. Every barbarian and their boars were now frozen in place, and sported an eerie black and white hue. She wondered was happened, and why was she spared, when the booming voice spoke again.

"**You who lack the right. You are not welcome in this realm of sorrow. However, your heart is cleaner than the other trespassers, and for that, you will not suffer the same fate as the others. However, you will be punished with a curse fitting your intrusion."**

"No, please." Zelda pleaded as a shadowy figure approached. "I will leave, but please don't do this."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

_**To be continued…**_

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And that's the first chapter, breaking a personal record: I wrote it in just 3 days! Maybe that's why the ending may look kinda so-so. R&R, everybody. I feed off reviews. Next chapter is Link's debut, so keep your mouse smokin'.

Lightweight 20-05


	2. Hopes

A/N: Chapter 2! YAY! I'm so glad I'm already this far. I'd like to thank my reviewers for their comments:

Twisted Mackeral: Thank you for your honesty. I'll be checking those tenses soon, though I'm now concentrated more on doing the story.

MythCreaterWriter: (Gasp) I am in your favorites list! Thanks for your comment, and here's more.

**Diclaimer: I do NOT own "The Legend of Zelda" or anything related to that. It's all property of Nintendo.**

_**Curse of the Twilight**_

_Act 2 _

_Hopes_

Toaru Village.

A nice, quiet town in the outskirts of Hyrule. The only real concerns here are avoiding the bees to get honey, herding the goats, and of course, motherhood. In this quaint village lived a certain young man by the name of Link. Link was a special boy among the residents of the village. Perhaps it is because he was a very helpful person, doing everything from carrying stuff for the women to cutting firewood. Perhaps it is because he is great with the kids. Perhaps it is because he has a very unique birthmark, seemly a symbol of great things to come. Whichever the case, Link was a well-loved character among townsfolk.

"Here you go, Mrs. O' Nary." Link said, while giving the lady a basket of goods.

"Why thank you, Link dear." Mrs. O' Nary thanked the blonde teenager, giving him a blue rupee. "Here, have some rupees for your trouble."

"Really? Thanks." It was rare that Link received some reward for his actions, but when one showed up, Link was not hesitant to accept it. Oh, no, not at all.

After helping Mrs. O' Nary, Link headed for his house to grab a snack before heading to the ranch, when something caught his attention. It was some sort of bird, but it looked like it had a difficult time staying I the air. The bird couldn't hold it anymore and fell somewhere behind some hills just outside the village. Something inside Link told him to search for that bird, so without second thought he ran out of the village and to the hills. When he found the bird, the poor thing had a broken wing and it was gasping for air. Link, determined to help the struggling bird, carefully picked it up and went to his house.

* * *

First, the bird opened its eyes lazily, but suddenly shot them wide open, trying to recognize what was that place. It was surely not outside. The bird tried to move, but the left wing was tied and covered, and it was impossible to move. 

"You shouldn't move." The bird heard a voice. The bird looked around until it saw the source of the voice: a young man, in his mid-teens, doing… something on a table. "You took quite a nasty fall out there. You should rest."

Link, the young man, walked to the bed where the bird lay, with a paste on a leaf. "So, you're a hawk." He began talking while taking off the bird's bandages. "We don't see many hawks around here. You must be lost." He tried to apply the paste on the hawk's wounds, but the bird started to screech and move. "Hey! Calm down! This is just some medicinal cream. It doesn't hurt." Link could see a hint of mistrust coming from the hawk, so he decided to apply some of the paste on himself. "See? Now trust me."

The hawk looked hesitant, but allowed Link to apply the medicine on the broken wing. At first, it stung, but then it felt soothing. Link took special care that the procedure would be as painless as possible. After he finished and rebandaged the wing, Link picked up the hawk and helped it to its feet. The hawk felt dizzy and tumbled, but Link held it before it fell. Eventually, the hawk was capable of walking, and even standing on Link''s hand. After this practice, Link gave the hawk some food. Since he didn't knew exactly what hawks ate, Link decided to mash up a piece of bread and a deku nut together, hoping the hawk would like it. By the bird's seemly incessant eating, he inferred it did.

When the sun was at the highest point in the sky, Link unbandaged the hawk and took it outside to practice flying. At the beginning, it was hard to even flap the wings properly, but eventually, the hawk could fly short distances. Awestruck by the small showcase, some kids approached Link and, being their usual curious selves, started asking questions.

"Cool. What kind of bird is that?" A boy asked.

"This is a hawk, Chico." Link answered.

"Where did you find it?" Zaza, the youngest girl in the group, asked.

"Well, you see, she fell right off the sky this morning and I took 'er to my house. I've been taking care of her since." Link explained.

"Poor thing. Is she ok?" Yoa, the oldest girl, asked.

"Of course. It seems it would take more than a simple fall to take this bird out."

"She?" Kip questioned Yoa's words. "Come on. It's obvious he's a he. Right, Link?"

"Actually," Link confesed, "I'm not really sure. I know it's a hawk because Mrs. O' Nary told me."

"Hey, Link, are you going to keep it?" Fehn, the smallest, asked.

"I don't know. Perhaps the bird needs to go back to its home. I wouldn't stop her then, now would I?"

Suddenly, a girl about Link's age appeared and stormed over to the kids. "What are you doing here? You should be in class." She said commandingly.

"Come on, Illa. We were just…"

"But nothing, Kip. Or do you want me to tell your mothers?" She taunted. Grudgingly, the kids began walking to the school.

"Spoilsport." Link accused Illa. "This is education too, you know. Nature." He said, pointing at the hawk.

"I hate to break it to you, but taking care of a bird isn't exactly nature." Illa corrected.

"Okay, Illa, you win." Link said playfully, the quickly changed the subject. "I'm guessing you didn't come here just for the kids. You need something?"

"Oh, yeah." Illa said as she remembered. "Mr. Tarin wants to talk to you in the ranch."

"Oh, that' right!" About the… and what I… and our… Thank, Illa." Link then ran off to the ranch. "We should talk again sometime."

Illa sighed sadly at Link' words. "We rarely do."

* * *

At the ranch, Tarin was sitting by the stable, wiping bucket of sweat off his forehead. It was a really busy day, made especially tiring by the fact that Link was not there to help him. After finally herding that final unwilling goat into the table, he was pooped. Right at that moment, Link made his entrance, hawk in hand. 

"Hey, Tarin. Heard you were looking for me." The blonde teenager shouted.

"Link, great timing." Tarin stood up, although he still leaned on the stable's wall. "I see the bird's gotten better."

"Yup." Link answered. "Pretty soon, she'll be ready to fly on her own."

"Good, 'cause I need you, Link." Tarin picked up a box from the ground and gave it to Link. "You'll have to do today' fishing."

"Fishing?" Link whined.

"Normally, I'd do it myself, but I'm tired, and I still haven't checked on my cuckoos at home today." Tarin explained.

"But it's going to take me the rest of the day." Link complained.

"It's called work. Get used to it."

Link sighed. "Okay." He dropped the hawk on the ground and picked up the rest of the materials ad headed to the dock, hawk closely behind. There, he mounted a boat, and rowed his way to Toaru lake.

* * *

Meanwhile, the sheikah search party was still on the trail of Princess Zelda's kidnappers. Although there have been clues to lead them on, progress was slow at best. It was the fourth day, and things were on a standstill. Still, a bad ad things were, never once did Impa lose hope. 

"Don't worry, Princess. We'll find you. And then, I'll make those barbarians pay. I swear they'll…"

Suddenly, a voice outside her tent interrupted her train of thought. "Lady Impa, may I?"

"Sure, Makkid." Impa said. The sheikah second-in-command made his way into the tent.

"Sorry for the interruption, Lady Impa, but I have a question." Makkid began.

"Sure, you may ask." Impa allowed.

"With all due respect, Lady Impa, but why such an intense search?" Makkid asked.

"Well, she is the princess." Impa answered coldly.

"Are you certain that's the only reason?" Makkid questioned.

"I'm certain." Impa scowled

Makkid looked at Impa carefully, finding a hint of hurt in her face. He then looked outside to see if anyone was approaching. Satisfied that they were alone, he sat in front of Impa, and looked straight at her face. "Come on, Impa." He pleaded. "You headline a search when you could've stayed behind. You're pushing yourself too hard. I once heard you praying for the Princess' safety. There's something else hidden beneath this." Impa remained stoic. "Come on. You know me. You can trust me." Impa looked down in deep thought, then looked back up with a softer look on her face. "Now, tell me what's going on."

Impa sighed in defeat and began. "All right. But get ready, Makkid. This is kind of a long story."

* * *

"Look at this." Link showed the hawk his contraption composed of a fishing net tied to rocks at the bottom, and to the boat and a tree on the top ends. The end tied to a tree also had a bell tied to it. "With this little invention, the fish will practically catch themselves! Now we can sit down and relax." He sat down, back against a tree, and took off hi gloves. The hawk suddenly became enthralled by some strange markings on Link's right backhand. 

"What are you looking at, this?" Link pointed at his mark. The hawk seemed surprised and looked up at his face. "This is my birthmark." He explained. "Some people said this is a Triforce symbol, the same that's on the Hyrule Castle area. I haven't been there, so I can't tell you if it's true. But look at this." He pointed at the lower-left triangle, which was darker than the other two. "This one I said to represent courage. Apparently, that means that I will overcome any hardships, and someday I could become a hero." The hawk was hanging on Link's every word. "Heh. I don't see that happening, though. At least not while I'm still around here."

Link then turned his attention to his bag. "I knew we were going to be here a long time," he said, pulling a piece of bread, "so I brought a little something for us to et in the meantime." He then cut the bread, and gave a piece to the hawk while he took a bite of the other piece. The hawk just stared at the piece of bread, and then at Link, as if in deep thought. When Link turned to look at the bird, however, the hawk quickly turned to look t various points in the scenery, then began pecking the piece of bread.

Just as the bread was eaten away, a ray of light temporarily blinded the hawk. Upon regaining sight, the hawk could see that sundown was approaching. The bird looked at Link, who was busy drinking a jug of water, then took some short hops back, then finally flew into the foliage. Upon hearing a noise within the tree, Link looked around, only to briefly see the hawk flying up and out of his sight.

"Not even a goodbye. Oh well." Link sighed. Right then, a ring of the bell broke his line of thought. "But right now, there are fishes to be fried." He donned his gloves again, and began the difficult process of pulling a few dozen fish out of the water at once.

* * *

"Oh, Daddy, I miss you. I miss you so much." 

Princess Zelda lay huddled in a corner, inside an abandoned tower in the dark of the night. It was freezing that night, and since the princess didn't know how to make a fire, all she could do I try to cover herself as much as she could and wait out he undying night.

"Impa… dear Impa, where are you? I need you."

Zelda felt like crying, but made an effort not to. She made it a point to stay strong and not to lose her sanity, even at these severely adverse conditions.

"I have to remain calm. I have to find a way to lift this curse."

Zelda suddenly had an idea. She looked down to her clothes, and dusted it off to uncover the Triforce symbol on it. She pondered the possibilities for a moment, but quickly shook off any thought of it.

"I… I can't do that. I can't risk… I don't want anybody getting cured because of me." Zelda told herself. "There ha to be another way." She told herself. The truth, however, was another. "Who am I kidding? I have no other choice." Her painful decision was made. Zelda, knowing there was no turning back once it began, tried to catch some sleep.

"All I can do now is pray to the gods."

_**To be continued.**_

* * *

And with another chapter completed, now comes the time where comments are expected. For those brave enough to comment on this story, know that I accept everything, from the best praises to the worst flames. In fact, it would be best if you were brutally honest with me about this work. Finally, I thank you all for reading my fanfic, whether you leave a comment or not. Stay tuned for the next chapter, coming soon. 

_Lightweight 20-05_.


	3. Memories

A/N: At the bottom from now on!

_**Curse of the Twilight**_

_Act 3_

_Memories_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

"Quick! Fetch the doctor!"

"Keep an eye on her!"

It was chaos that day in Hyrule Castle. Despite six months worth of training and preparations, the majority of the castle guards were taken aback by the queen's incessant screaming. Her husband the king was sitting at her side, whispering soothing words at her ear. They weren't working, apparently, as some guards passing by the room could prove. Finally, the doctor arrived, accompanied by Impa, who heard what was happening at the market.

"So, how is the future mother doing?" The doctor asked casually.

The queen pulled the doctor by the collar at the first chance and stared at him with a death glare. "I feel like a million evil moblins were eating up my insides and breaking my hips. Now get to work!" She then pushed him back with such force that made him trip.

"Very well. Let's begin." The doctor composed himself and reached on his bag for his instruments. Having donned his special gloves and placed sheets all over the bed, he then set the queen in position and prepared himself. "All right, your majesty. Push!"

The queen pushed with all her might, clutching to the bed for some support. Her screams of pain could be heard all over the castle. She felt her muscles being ripped apart and her bones were being broken. It was, of course, her first time giving birth. About two and a half tension-filled minutes passed, which to the queen was an eternity.

Finally, the doctor spoke again. "I see the head." As a matter of fact, he couls see something else: a trickle of blood, quite possibly caused by the strain of the labor. He didn't give it much importance, since such thing happened on many first-timers. "Come on, queenie. Don't give up!" He encouraged while he tried to reach for the baby's head.

At long last, the baby's head came out. "Great! Now let's see the rest of the body!" The doctor said. He then noticed something shocking: the queen's legs were not tense anymore. In fact, they were completely unmoving. He saw what was wrong: the queen was unconscious. And to make matters worse, the trickle of blood grew larger. If she remained like this, the baby could die.

The doctor quickly rummaged through his bag until he pulled out a small bottle, then proceeded to uncork it, and gave it to Impa. "Wave this under her nose. It'll waske her up." He said. Impa, without much of a choice, followed the doctors orders, and sure enough, the queen woke up.

"Uh? What happened?" The queen asked lazily.

"Your majesty, I'm going to have to ask you to make an effort and stay conscious through the labor." The doctor said. The queen immediately regained her wits and concentrated her efforts unto finishing the task at hand. The doctor, on the other hand, was worried about the well being of the queen and her baby if the labor extended for much longer, considering the current situation. The minutes passed by, seemly extending indefinitely for everybody.

Finally, on a stroke of luck (and a burst of strength from the queen), the baby was finally out for the world to see. The doctor's first priority was to check if the baby was ok. Fortunately, the newborn survived the ordeal without a problem. The queen, however, was another story. She was extremely pale, breathing shallow, and many of the sheet around her legs were stained crimson.

"This isn't good." The doctor mumbled to the king. "She's lost a lot of blood."

"Can't anything be done?" The king asked.

"All we can do is clean the area, suture… and pray to the gods." The doctor said with an unsure tone in his voice. "Lady Impa, is it? Please clean the baby while I take care of the queen." After handing the baby to Impa, he proceeded to take care of the queen.

"Harkinian?" The queen called. "Hark, where are you?"

"Here I am!" The king answered and rushed to her side. "You need something?"

"Is…" The queen spoke laboriously. "Is our baby… safe?"

"Yes! Of course!" Impa is bathing her right now." He answered automatically.

"That's good." The queen smiled faintly, then suddenly coughed loudly. The doctor and Harkinian gasped in surprise, but the queen reverted to her smile. "I did that on purpose."

King Harkinian offered a sad smile in return. "Stubborn as always."

"Could I be any other way?" The queen stated half-jokingly. Suddenly, her gaze turned serious. "Hark?" she called again, locking eyes with Harkinian, eyes watering. "… I love you."

King Harkinian noticed the profound sadness on his wife's face. She knew very well her possible fate, and he could see that. He didn't have the heart of trying to fill her head with false promises, so he said the only thing he could. "I love you too."

Just then, Impa walked in, baby in hand. "My queen, here she is. A healthy baby girl."

"Please, place her at my side." The queen requested, and Impa obeyed. The queens face was a mixture of overjoy and sadness at the sights of the fruits of her love.

"My little baby." She said to her newborn daughter, tears flowing freely through her face. "You'll be a good girl. Take care of your daddy and Miss Impa in my stead. Be good to your people. They like that." She paused for a second as she choked up slightly. "Remember that mommy will always love you. And mommy will always watch over you, even if you don't see me." She then laboriously bent over and kissed her baby on the forehead. "May the goddesses bless you and keep you safe… My little Zelda."

"Impa." The queen called her longtime friend over. "I entrust Princess Zelda under your care. You are to work in tandem with the King and the wise men to… (COUGH!)… to assist in her grouth and ensure her safety." The queen promptly dropped the formal façade, and looked at the sheikah straight in the eye. "Take care of her, as you once took care of me, Impa, my friend."

Impa took baby Zelda into her arms, in a sign of trust, and, fighting back her own tears, addressed the queen one last time. "You have my word, as a warrior, as a Sheikah, and as a friend. I will protect her life as it were my own. I will not let you down…"

"Zelda."

-------

The very next day, a funeral in honor of Queen Zelda was coordinated at the Grand Temple of the Goddesses. Everybody in and around Hyrule Castle Town, peasants, nobles, merchants, soldiers, Zora, Gorons, and even Gerudo, attended the ceremony. The streets surrounding the temple were overflowing with people. The procession was very emotional, especially among the Royal Family, their friends, and the newborn Sheikah community, who Queen Zelda had a special bond with. Because of this, the baby's Presentation Ceremony, usually done within a week of its birth, was pushed back by a month. She was presented as Princess Zelda Dianne Hyrule the 2nd.

_ >>>>>>>>>_

"Sweet Nayru. I didn't know." Makkid's voice suddenly turned apologetic after hearing the story. "I… I'm so sorry."

Impa shook her head to silence her partner's guilt. "It's all right." She said. She then lowered her gaze to the floor. "In fact… I'm the one that should apologize. This is my responsibility, yet I've dragged you all with me."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Makkid said. It was now his turn of being reassuring. "You know we would've followed you even if you didn't want us."

"Yeah, you're right." Impa said, chuckling softly. "We're a scary race."

"Lady Impa!" Suddenly, another sheikah barged in, interrupting the conversation. "Sorry to interrupt you, but we found a new lead."

The news were so exciting for Impa, she actually had to will herself to not jump on the informant and pry the information off his hands. "The information, if you please." Impa requested. The informant gave her a piece of paper with everything they found out, which she quickly read. Impa's eyes grew as the lead revealed their route. She knew they were going to dangerous lands.

"Thank you. You may go." Impa told to the informant, the turned to Makkid with a concerned look across her face. "It just got dangerous."

"So? Danger is what we strive for!" Makkid boomed, reaffirming his compromise. "We'll all be there."

"Thank you." Impa smiled at her friend, which in turn became a smirk and a mischievous glint. "So, the chase is still on."

Makkid quickly recognized Impa's look, and returned the smirk. "And a-hunting we will go."

_ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>_

It was noon at Toaru Village. Link, having completed a great deal of his chores, at the ranch, had settled to sit under a nearby tree to get a well-deserved rest. After eating his lunch, he closed his eyes and unintentionally dozed off into a peaceful dream.

If only that were true…

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_Link stood in a strange road in the middle of the night. He can't remember where this road is. In front of him is a weird castle, closed off from where he stood, that seemed to extend as far as the eye could see. Amongst the imposing structure, two askew towers rose. The windows are like eyes, piercing through Link's very mind. Suddenly, a very large bridge began to extend from beneath the castle, but stopped halfway through. From inside the castle, a cloaked figure, with its head down, walked to the bridge. At the edge of the bridge, the figure looked up to Link, but all Link could see were its bright eyes. The figure took another stop forward, plummeting to the abyss below. Shocked by this, Link instinctively jumped down to the abyss to try to save the figure, but all he saw was a bird flying up from the abyss, leaving Link freefalling to the evergrowing darkness._

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Link woke up, drenched in cold sweat. Looking around at the clear blue skies, crisp green grass, and robust trees, he slowly convinced himself that it was just a dream. Just a bad dr…

"AAAAAH!" He screamed upon seeing a bird flying close by. Upon further inspection, however, he noticed that bird was the hawk Link healed, and thought was long gone by now. "Oh, it's you. How are you doing, buddy?"

The hawk swooped down, landing right beside Link. Silent as always, the hawk just looked at Link with a nondescript look on its eyes. However, Link noticed something odd on the bird. It was holding a piece of paper in its claw. "Hey, what's that? Can I see?" Link asked. The hawk simply raised its leg and dropped the piece of paper, which Link immediately swiped. What he saw made him gasp. It was a castle. The castle he saw in his dream. Although less detailed and straighter that what he saw, it was pretty much the same castle. Shocked, he stared at the hawk, who just kept giving him the same nondescript look as before. 'This is no coincidence' he thought.

"Where did you get this? Show me!" Link demanded of the bird. The hawk took a small look at the picture in the paper, and took to the skies, landing on top of the barn, looking to the southeast, never faltering its gaze. Link took the hint and climbed up to where the hawk was. Nothingness. Vast amounts of nothingness. That was all he could see, looking at the direction the hawk was looking. "I better borrow Epona." He mumbled to himself.

That night, Link sneaked around the village, and to the ranch's stables, where Epona, a horse with a reputation of being fast, yet painstakingly hard to tame, lay sleeping. The footsteps, quiet as they may be, woke the wild stallion up. Quickly, Link presented a carrot up to the horse's nose.

"I have a whole bag of these with your name on it, if you choose to cooperate." Link whispered to Epona. The horse scoffed in arrogance at the boy's proposal, But then he showed the bag full of carrots to the faithless horse.

Link and Epona sneaked around to the main entrance to Toaru Village. "Damn, where did the hawk go?" Link asked himself. "I know I locked all exits in my house when I went to sleep early, but even so, that damn hawk found a way out. How am I supposed to know where to go? Well, I guess I should keep going southeast until I hit something or the hawk decides to appear again." The duo began walking out of the village, when a voice halted their progress.

"Oh, you're leaving, aren't you?" Illa said.

"Illa! I didn't see you there." Link said, surprised. "What are you doing here so late?"

"I overheard you when you locked yourself up in your house. You talked of adventure and searching for something. It was almost like you were possessed by some demon."

"Demon? How come!" Link asked

"You sure didn't sound like the lazy butt we all know and love." Illa snorted.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Link questioned indignatied.

Illa giggled lightly. "I'm glad."

"Of what?" Link eyed her menacingly.

"That we're still friends, even after all these years." Illa answered.

"With a village this small, what are my choices?" Link said jokingly.

"Link!" Illa shouted. "Regardless, I'm glad we're friends. And I hope we can continue being friends." She then took out a pendant, and gave it to Link. "Take this as a promise. No matter where you go, no matter what happens, don't ever forget me."

"Don't worry. I won't." Link assured Illa

"You better, or I'll kick your butt all the way to next month to make you remember!" Illa threatened. Link winced, but then laughed it off. "Now go, before we wake the village up."

Link mounted on Epona and prepare to ride. "And take good care of Epona. She likes that." Illa advised. With a final nod, Link rode off to the horizon. Illa stood to watch until he was no longer visible. Leaning on a post, she closed her eyes lightly and let out a single tear.

"_Don't you dare forget me. I won't forget you."_

_ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>_

FINALLY! Chappie 3 (revision 3)! For those who thought I might've forgotten of this story, sorry. I hope this was worth the wait. Oh, and 100 meseta to the first one who identifies my inspiration of the chapter. I am not sure when will chapter 4 be available, because I'm currently not having this story as priority. If you budge enough, though, I'll make chapter 4 soon enough.Review! I'm hungry for reviews.

BTW, for those who don't understand the birth scene, think about it. I would not just put in a scene for no reason. If you still don't understand why, I'll explain... next chapter.

_**Lightweight.**_


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